In As I Lay Dying, story is told by multiple narrators. I’ve read books before that had maybe 2-3 narrators that switched per chapter, but in As I Lay Dying there are 15 different narrators throughout the entire novel. Even though this gets confusing at times, I think it’s really a refreshing and stark difference from the Odyssey, where we see basically one narrator and their one opinion.
But with all of this extra information, it’s hard for me to come up with a solid opinion about any of the characters.
For Anse this is especially the case, because his motives are not completely clear to me. In class we talked about the (tender) moment when Anse goes to Addie right after she dies, and even though he’s super awkward, he’s still trying to convey some emotion. And in a sense he’s reaching out to her which we didn’t see when she was alive. But something that ruins this moment, is right afterwards Anse goes: “Now I can get them teeth” (52). This made me think that Addie’s death wasn’t even as important as getting his teeth.
At first, I thought this was super disappointing, but in last night's reading there was another reference to those great teeth that Anse was looking forward to: “But now I can get them teeth. That will be comfort. It will” (111). So this sort of made me question whether I’d jumped to conclusions on Anse. In that quote, Anse seems to be looking to new teeth as a comfort because his wife died. All of the Bundren family seems to be grieving in different ways, whether it be immersing yourself in work as Cash did, or convincing yourself that your mother was a fish, as Vardaman did. To me, it seems like (at this current moment) that getting new teeth is almost like Anse’s way of grieving.
There are definitely other ways to interpret this and since we don’t really know the Anse before Addie’s illness, it’s kind of hard to judge, but at the moment with all of this information we are given, this is sort of my take on Anse’s teeth issue.
I don't exactly know why, but Anse seems like the kind of guy who hasn't really achieved anything (he can't do work or else he will sweat and die). From what we've read he mopes around a lot saying things like "No one dislikes it more than me." I think that getting this new teeth is his only goal in life right now, so that makes me root for him to get these new teeth, because it seems that he doesn't really want anything else.
ReplyDeleteOhh, I really like this post. In The Odyssey, it seemed like the general class decision was that Odysseus was kind of a shady guy who wasn't the best hero. And now, from may of the more recent discussions, it sounds like people are seeing Anse just as negatively: Anse is lazy; he's making up medical excuses for himself; Anse wants Addie to die just so he can go to town and get teeth. However, I like that you have a positive take on Anse's motives. I mean, if I had a loved one pass away, my family would definitely have different ways of coping with grief. Anse's teeth is just a way to bring a little bit of happiness back into his life after a tragic event. And yeah, the timing is a little weird with Addie's death = town trip, but I don't think Anse is really that bad of a guy.
ReplyDeleteI also like how Hailan interprets Anse and his teeth. I was really hoping that we would get to see Anse in a more positive way as we read, but now that we’ve finished the book, I think Anse just wanted the teeth all along. It was like he found an excuse to go to Jefferson by saying he was going for Addie especially since the burial scene is glossed over, and he immediately finds a new wife. In the book, I wasn’t even sure if the burial scene had happened and had to go back and look for it. Despite not doing much throughout this journey, Anse seems to benefit the most which is really unfortunate for his kids.
DeleteGoing on with this theme, everyone does have kind of shady motives for going to town. But I think that we've judged the family a little too harshly, automatically jumping to the worst possible conclusions (especially with Anse and his teeth). In another cynical idea, maybe our harsh judgement of the Bundren's lies in our attempts to enforce our own moral code of how people are supposed to grieve, similar to the people the Bundren's meet along the way
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree- Anse's character is a little confusing. It's hard for us to uncover what his true character is like because it seems like he is trying to hide it. Like in the scene you mentioned with Addie and how he was trying to fix her blanket and then failed, made it seem like he did care and want to help, but only after he couldn't do that, he tried to just move past it and look to something that would make him happy - getting new teeth. He's trying really hard on this journey to bury his wife, but things just don't seem to be turning out his way and all he can look forward to are getting his teeth, so I don't think he's a bad guy, just a little confused.
ReplyDeleteOMG now that u mention it dang 15 narrators I guess I kinda got used to the narration so I was like "meh ok this isn't so bad", but 15...
ReplyDeleteOk yea Anse might've seemed not that bad of a guy back then but now that I've finished a book YEA IDK UMMM WHAT'S THIS NEW "MRS. BUNDREN" HMM??? I guess he is kind of a dick... but yet again I am brought to the middle ground during today's discussion about how marriage back then was different from today's - there weren't that many resources, and love... might've not been something that they could afford.
Now that I think about it, I shouldn't be too surprised - I mean how did Anse and Addie get married in a first place? Flashback time:
"Hey you're alone and you hate life I have a farm without a woman you wanna come"
"sure I hate these kids anyways and you can't have a farm without a woman"
"kay let's get married"
"kay I'll make you babies then have an affair and pay that back with two more babies then I can die and when I do bury me with my own people"
so... yea no love there anyways... also she literally wanted to die soooooooo I guess she's happy? I mean what's up with getting prepared to be dead for the long time... whether you like it or not you're gonna rot anyways... no matter what the coffin's made out of time is a thing you know and there's a lot of it AND it's not on your side. So why don't you not think about death when life is so fleeting????? That idea is beyond my comprehension atm... anyone who can enlighten me please respond to this post.